[ RadSafe ] Seattle / Puget Sound Earthquakes

Tue Apr 10 10:51:32 CDT 2012

As the contamination source for a airborne deposition scenario, I called
down a Tunguska-size strike on a Russian or Chinese reactor facility
(depending on how much lead time was desired).  Everyone agreed that
such a strike would be entirely adequate.  There was some doubt that in
the face of all the other effects that anyone would get spun up about
the rad, but I have confidence in certain demographics to look beyond
the big picture, and find their favorite hobbyhorse amidst the clutter.

-----Original Message-----
From: radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu
[mailto:radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu] On Behalf Of Jerry Cohen
Sent: Monday, April 09, 2012 8:28 PM
To: The International Radiation Protection (Health Physics) Mailing List
Subject: Re: [ RadSafe ] Seattle / Puget Sound Earthquakes

Joe.
If you really need to worry about something, consider a 100 km. wide
meteor 
impacting the Seattle area. Of course the probability for such an
occurrence is 
remote, but its seriousness would be disasterous. The shock wave alone
could 
kill millions of people, and more seriously, it could cause release of 
radioactivity from nuclear facilities in the area. Sleep well ;-)
Jerry Cohen

________________________________
From: "JPreisig at aol.com" <JPreisig at aol.com>
To: radsafe at health.phys.iit.edu
Sent: Mon, April 9, 2012 6:03:22 PM
Subject: Re: [ RadSafe ] Seattle / Puget Sound Earthquakes

Dear Radsafe,

      From: _jpreisig at aol.com_ (mailto:jpreisig at aol.com)    .

      Seattle and an 8.5 or 9.0 earthquake (due to  subduction release) 
close-by boggles the mind
totally.  Ouch!!!  See Bruce Bolt's Beginners book on Earthquakes  for
what 
happens to tall
buildings in earthquakes.  From what I saw of Seattle, there is a fair  
amount of unreinforced brick/
masonry used in buildings.  Heck, the Space Needle may just fall over  
directly.

      If a tsunami/flooding would occur near/in  Seattle, the loss of
life 
would be incredible.
Ever try to evacuate up to higher ground if the hills are  liquifying???

Ouch again.  Would there
be helicopter or Coast Guard rescue of people from Seattle's higher  
buildings???  People around/in the
Puget Sound would drown directly --- it wouldn't matter if they could
swim  
or not.  They would be
overwhelmed by a large wall of water.  Consider debris hitting people  
also.  Cars and boats would be
part of this debris.

       My big problem with a tsunami hitting  the Puget Sound, is that
the 
tsunami going into the 
Puget Sound would be amplified going into that rather shallow Sound
area.  
I have to look at my map of Seattle again, to see the Sound  geometry.  

      There don't appear to be any nuclear plants  in the Seattle area.

      Perhaps Boeing should move a percentage of  it's plants somewhere
a 
bit inland from the
Puget Sound...

      There is information about paleoseismology  and trenching
earthquake 
periodicity in the Seattle area
due to Brian Atwater and other geologists in the UW/Seattle area.  See  
also the popular
earthquake book by Nance.  One can do a real literature search;   I
think 
the name Heaton is
relevant.

      An earthquake, of large magnitude, in the  Seattle/Puget Sound
area 
(Juan de Fuca fault zone???)
is something I don't really want to be around to see.

      Regards,       Joseph R. (Joe) Preisig, PhD

In a message dated 4/9/2012 6:35:01 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,  
jpower at appliedmedical.com writes:

See:  http://geomaps.wr.usgs.gov/pacnw/lifeline/eqhazards.html 

See the  attached USGS paper on seismic hazards in and around Puget
Sound.

One  of my Central Washington University geology professors always
pointed 
out that  he would be most concerned about liquefaction and slope
failure of 
unconsolidated deposits and soils.

Jim Power
Former  Geo
Escondido,  CA

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